Dolphins-Bills Week 2 Instant Takeaways

Few words can describe how bad a night was for the Miami Dolphins.

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) runs with the football for a touchdown ahead of Miami Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer (21) during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

What stood out in the Miami Dolphins Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills?

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Nothing we had written before or wrote after this dreadful night was meaningful after what happened to QB Tua Tagovailoa, and now the focus will turn to his future status along with the sad reality that the Dolphins were again badly outmatched by the Bills.

Watching Tua stay on the field after that fourth-down scramble in the third quarter was disturbing on so many levels, starting with concern about Tagovailoa's welfare, given his concussion issues of two years ago.

This was a bad night for injuries even before that because the Dolphins lost their two starting offensive linemen on the left side of the line, Robert Jones and Terron Armstead. It's disturbing to see Armstead continue to have bad luck with injuries, and he's also somebody the Dolphins can't afford to lose for very long.

In a nutshell, this is the kind of game that could wreck a season and will test the Dolphins' resolve.

SETTING UP THE GAME

We'll start with the inactive list, which was highlighted by running back Raheem Mostert, who is out with a chest injury. The good news for the offense was that running back De'Von Achane, who was listed on the final injury report as questionable with an ankle injury, was active.

With Mostert out, rookie fourth-round pick Jaylen Wright was active and in line to make his NFL debut.

Along with Mostert, the other inactives were the same as for Week 1: CB Ethan Bonner, LB Channing Tindall, LB Mohamed Kamara, OL Andrew Meyer, and WR Malik Washington. Like Mostert, Washington was ruled out Wednesday because of the quadriceps injury that also kept him out of the season opener.

FIRST QUARTER

The Dolphins got the ball first and immediately showed their new approach on third-and-short this season, handing the ball to fullback Alec Ingold on third-and-1. He gained 3 yards up the middle, making the Dolphins 4-for-4 on third-and-1 run conversions after they went 5-for-11 last season.

We also should mention Aaron Brewer's great clearing block, which paved the way for Achane's 5-yard run.

The drive went south quickly after that, though, after Tyreek Hill took himself out of the game after an incompletion on a deep shot when cornerback Christian Benford backed up right away and was in a great position the whole way.

On third-and-13, Tua went for newcomer Grant DuBose down the field at the numbers, but he didn't turn around quickly enough, and the ball bounced off his shoulder and right into the hands of Buffalo DB Ja'Marcus Ingram. This is one of those where the pick will go on Tua's stat sheet but really wasn't on him.

Buffalo cashed in with a 37-yard touchdown drive that gave the Bills a 7-0 lead when they aggressively went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Miami 17. On the touchdown, linebacker David Long, Jr. got caught in traffic, which left James Cook wide open after he spilled out on the left side.

The Dolphins did have a couple of nice plays on that defensive series, starting with Jaelan Phillips's non-biting on a naked bootleg, which forced an incompletion. Then, Zach Sieler blew up a third-and-2 with Long joining him in the backfield.

The Dolphins came right back with an impressive 70-yard touchdown run — after, yes, another touchback with the supposed new "dynamic" kickoff return. The key plays in the drive were a couple of off-schedule passes by Tua, one to Jonnu Smith for 15 yards and the other for 17 yards to Jaylen Waddle on third-and-4.

Achane sure looked fine on that drive, carrying the ball four times (with runs of 14 and 8 yards) and capping it off with a 5-yard touchdown reception when the Dolphins wound up with Achane and Ingold in the right flat with only one Buffalo defense in the area.

The next Buffalo drive ended in a three-and-out when Josh Allen dropped the shotgun snap on third-and-1, and Calais Campbell batted down his pass after he picked up the loose ball and scrambled to his right. We probably should get used to Campbell knocking down passes.

The Dolphins continued to use their speed laterally on their next drive, with Tyreek Hill taking a pitch in the backfield and quickly turning the corner for a 12-yard gain.

On the next play, though, Tagovailoa threw his second interception when he tried to hit Robbie Chosen with a mid-range pass. This may have been a case of QB and receiver not being on the same page, but in any event, it gave Buffalo the ball at the Miami 44-yard line.

SECOND QUARTER

After giving up a third-and-5 conversion when the Dolphins decided to rush three, and Allen hit Khalil Shakir after having all sorts of time in the pocket, the defense stiffened to hold Buffalo to a field goal.

Jalen Ramsey continues to be great in run support, disrupting a James Cook run, during which Cook did a great job merely gaining 3 yards.

Jordyn Brooks showed great coverage ability when he stayed step for step with him down the sideline to force an incompletion.

The Dolphins went three-and-out on their next drive, primarily because of a holding penalty on a second-down run by Jaylen Wright after he had gained 3 yards on his first NFL carry.

The next defensive series wasn't good, starting with Jordan Poyer getting flagged for unnecessary roughness at the end of a 21-yard completion.

The run defense sprung some leaks when rookie Ray Davis ran for 8 and 10 yards on back-to-back plays.

The killer on the drive came on third-and-12 from the Miami 34 when Allen bought some time scrambling in the pocket and found third-down back Ty Johnson near the goal line after he was able to shake Jalen Ramsey — and this is where we point out that you can't ask a cornerback to cover anybody for 10 seconds.

James Cook's 1-yard touchdown run on the next play put the Dolphins in a 17-7 hole for a second consecutive week.

The Dolphins' next drive started well enough when Achane blew through a big hole up the middle for 17 yards and then gained 9 yards on the next two plays.

But things went south from there, with Ingold stuffed for a 1-yard on third-and-1, the Dolphins' first failure on a third-and-short run this season.

On fourth-and-2 from the Buffalo 45, Mike McDaniel made the correct decision to go for it, but the play never had a chance because Ed Oliver got by left guard Robert Jones almost instantly and was on top of Tua for a drive-ending sack.

Yeesh, things got worse for the Dolphins on the next play when James Cook sprinted up the middle and then down the right sideline for a 49-yard touchdown to make it 24-7. David Long, Jr., who had been playing really well before that, ran himself into a triple-team block for some reason, and then Jordan Poyer took a bad angle that allowed Cook to get by him easily.

The Dolphins' final drive of the half was pretty odd in the way it operated. There were only a couple of short passes and a whole bunch of Achane runs, coupled with a lack of urgency in calling timeouts. It was weird.

The Dolphins had to call their final timeout with 16 seconds left and the ball at the Buffalo 23-yard line. The Dolphins did get a field goal to cap the drive, but it was a small consolation as they went into halftime trailing 24-10.

THIRD QUARTER

The Dolphins got a much-needed stop on Buffalo's first drive of the second half, even though an unnecessary 5 yards were given when Anthony Walker, Jr. was flagged for moving too early on the kickoff, the first one of the night that was put into the end zone. This was the second time this season that Walker committed this infraction, and he needs to cut that out.

Chop Robinson and Zach Sieler pressured Josh Allen from midfield on third-and-7 to force an errant throw and an incompletion.

The Dolphins began the second half with Lester Cotton at left guard, Robert Jones sidelined with a shoulder injury, and Terron Armstead soon after being replaced at left tackle by Kendall Lamm.

The first four plays of the drive featured Achane, who continues to be the centerpiece of the Dolphins' offense tonight.

Then disaster struck when the Bills collapsed the left side of the Dolphins' offensive line (Lamm and Cotton). Tua tried to throw the ball out of bounds but didn't have enough on it. Ja'Marcus Ingram made the easy interception near the sideline, with an equally easy 30-yard return for a touchdown that made the score 31-10.

The Dolphins put together a good drive after this, highlighted by Tua's 23-yard completion to Waddle. Still, it ended after Tagovailoa left the game with a concussion that overshadowed everything else that happened on this dreadful night.

The drive ended wihen backup QB Skylar Thompson was sacked on fourth-and-goal from the 8 when Von Miller easily got past Austin Jackson.

FOURTH QUARTER

This was garbage time from the fourth quarter's start because the outcome was never in doubt.

There was more and more work by Achane as the Dolphins continued a conservative game plan against a Buffalo defense that played very loosely on defense to ensure they would not get beat over the top the way Jacksonville was.

Achane ended up with 165 yards from scrimmage and the one touchdown, but the Bills were content with the Dolphins letting him do that kind of damage.

It was interesting to see Hill and Waddle both on the bench halfway through the fourth quarter, with the Dolphins down 31-10, a sign that Miami had already given up.

Because of the score and Thompson's presence in the game, the fourth quarter frankly felt like a preseason game.

That the Dolphins couldn't cash in after getting into the red zone on their final drive mattered not one bit.

The game ended after Buffalo rushed for a first down with an update on Tua being with his family in the locker room.

There are few words again to describe just how horrible this night was on all levels.